Roses are red, violets are blue, sleep experts have a Valentine’s Day gift idea for you.
A box of chocolates and a candlelight dinner might seem romantic, but your partner might also embrace a lifestyle change: no more snoring.
“While snoring is disruptive to bed partners and can cause frustration in a relationship, it can also be an indicator of a serious health problem,” said Dr Kelly Carden, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM).
“Snoring is a common symptom of obstructive sleep apnoea, a chronic disease that involves the repeated collapse of the upper airway during sleep,” she explained in an AASM news release. “When sleep apnoea is untreated, it can increase the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, stroke and other health problems.”
For occasional snorers, the AASM offers this advice:
Lose weight. Weight gain can worsen snoring and lead to obstructive sleep apnoea. Shedding a couple of kilograms might eliminate your snoring.
Change positions. Some people find that they snore while sleeping on their back. If this is the case, try sleeping on your side instead.
Avoid alcohol, muscle relaxants and certain medications. Substances like these can relax your throat or tongue muscles, leading to snoring.
Get a diagnosis. If you’re snoring loudly each night, talk to your doctor about it or consult a sleep specialist.
Girls are entering puberty about a year earlier than they did back in the 1970s, according to global data on breast development.
The age of breast development – which represents the first clinical sign of female puberty – has declined an average three months per decade between 1977 and 2013, according to analysis of data combined from 30 different studies.
Higher risk for obesity
The health implications of this shift are not yet clear, said study co-author Dr Alexander Busch, a growth and reproduction researcher with Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark.
“There are not many studies out there concerning the implications of early breast development for women’s lifelong health,” Busch said.
However, Busch noted that early menstrual bleeding – the last clinical sign of puberty for women – is associated with a higher risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and allergies.
For the study, the Danish researchers scoured the medical literature and identified 30 studies that used breast development to track the age of puberty onset.
Pooling the study data together, they found that the age of first breast development had declined steadily over the past four decades.
Average age of early breast development ranged from 10 to 11 in Europe, 10 in the Middle East, 9 to 11 in Asia, 9 to 10 in the United States, and 10 to 13 in Africa, researchers found.
Higher ages-specific BMI
The researchers could not say why this is happening, but they pointed to a few possible contributing factors.
Higher body mass index (BMI) is associated with the onset of menstruation and earlier breast gland development, and so it could play a part, Busch said.
“Fat tissue is an important part of our hormone system, both producing and metabolizing hormones,” he said. “Thereby, a higher age-specific BMI is contributing to early pubertal onset.”
But excess weight alone cannot explain this drastic shift, Busch continued.
Other factors such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the environment also might influence the age of puberty, Busch said. Studies have shown that chemicals like DDT and DDE have been associated with earlier puberty.
The findings were published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
Potential health risks
While interesting, these findings would have meant more if they’d been combined with other changes that come in puberty, said Dr Robert Rapaport, an endocrinologist and paediatrician with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. He was not part of the study.
These could have included bone growth and first menstruation, Rapaport noted.
“It would be nice if these observations would correlate with other signs of puberty,” he said.
Rapaport agreed that it’s difficult at this time to associate earlier breast development with any potential health risks as these girls grow older, given the lack of research in this area.
“Those are questions that would need to be asked,” Rapaport said.
Following weight-loss surgery, teens may see some aspects of their health improve, but overall mental health isn’t likely to budge, a new study suggests.
In the five years after gastric bypass surgery, teens experienced small gains in self-esteem and some improvement in binge-eating, but no sizable boost in overall mood, researchers found.
Mental health problems
“The transition from adolescence to young adulthood is a vulnerable time, not least in adolescents with severe obesity,” said study author Kajsa Jarvholm, from Skane University Hospital in Sweden. “Our results provide a complex picture, but what’s safe to say is that weight-loss surgery does not seem to improve general mental health.”
For the study, researchers collected data on 161 obese Swedish teens, ages 13 to 18. Half had obesity surgery.
The researchers also collected data on psychiatric drugs prescribed to the teens and any specialist treatment for mental problems in the five years before and after surgery. The teens also reported any mental health problems.
Before surgery, the number of teens taking psychiatric drugs was similar between those who did and didn’t have the operation – 20% in the surgery group and 15% among the others.
Five years after surgery, the number of teens taking psychiatric drugs increased in both groups. An increase in use of specialist mental-health care was also seen.
Teens who had surgery were significantly more likely to have had inpatient or outpatient care for mental problems, the researchers found. But those who had surgery may be monitored more closely, which might account for the increased care.
Some limitations
Five years after surgery, teens who had the operation said they had improved self-esteem. They also reported less binge-eating, emotional eating and uncontrolled eating. Their overall mood, however, had not changed, the researchers noted.
The report was recently published in the journal The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.
The authors highlighted some limitations to the study. For one, the surgical patients weren’t randomly chosen. Also, the severity of obesity was unequal between the two groups (the surgery group had an average BMI of 45; the non-surgery group’s average BMI was 42), and the sample size was small.
Still, “we suggest that adolescents and their caregivers should be given realistic expectations in advance of embarking on a surgical pathway,” Jarvholm said in a journal news release. Also, as teens begin treatment, long-term mental health follow-up and support should be a requirement, she added.
People living with obesity encounter weight bias and discrimination, which can negatively affect mental health, said the author of an accompanying editorial, Dr Stasia Hadjiyannakis, from the University of Ottawa in Canada. “We must advocate for and support strategies aimed at decreasing weight bias and discrimination,” she wrote.
We’re slap-bang in the middle of Summer, and unless you’re running early in the morning or the evening — chances are you’re running right under the scorching sun. Generally, runs done in the heat tend to be harder and take a lot out of you… there’s a reason for this.
Biokineticist Travis Michelson says that it has to do with the fact that your body is working a lot harder than it would in cooler weather.
“The main reason running in the heat feels a lot more difficult is because your body is hard at work trying to cool your core body temperature down,” he says. “Therefore, you have less blood flow that would go towards all your other muscles and this affects your cardiovascular system raising your heart rate and causes your blood vessels to dilate.”
We asked him to offer quick and easy tips to make running in the sun more survivable:
1/ Pre-hydrate
“It’s extremely important to be already be hydrated by the time that you start your run,” Michelson says.
It’s recommended that you drink about 500ml of water 2 hours before you go out and then just one glass 15 minutes before you hit the road.
Michelson explains that, just like any other run, it’s essential to keep hydrated throughout but you should be careful of over-hydrating. And water shouldn’t be your only friend on the road.
“You will lose a lot of sodium because of the excessive sweating and a common error that people make is to replace that with just water where instead they should alternate between water and sodium-rich drinks such as sports drinks,” he says. “Drinking water only leads to overhydration and your electrolyte balance diminishes and you actually fatigue quicker.”
3/ Running Gear
Make sure that your running gear is lightweight and loose-fitting.
“If you can, invest in something like a cooling shirt which absorbs your sweat and uses it to help bring your body temperature down,” Michelson says.
4/ Wear a cap
Michelson advises wearing a cap when going for a run in the sun, and preferably a cap specifically designed for exercise.
“Caps help absorb the sweat running down from your head so that you don’t have it running into your eyes,” he says. “Caps made for exercise are designed to dry quicker and often have mesh insets that allow for the ventilation.”
“While wearing sunscreen is a given, people do sometimes need a reminder that protecting your skin from the sun’s UV rays is extremely important,” Michelson says.
Chances are, because of the heat, you’ll be wearing less clothing and most of your skin will be exposed. Make sure all of the exposed skin is covered including your ears, face, neck.
Nearly 30 million Americans have a chronic health problem that more than doubles their risk of death due to heart disease.
The culprit is obstructive sleep apnoea, a disease in which the upper airway collapses during sleep, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM).
Increased odds of several diseases
The AASM points to several major warning signs and risk factors for sleep apnoea: snoring, choking or gasping, fatigue, obesity and high blood pressure.
“Anyone who experiences snoring, choking or gasping during sleep should talk to a medical provider about their risk for sleep apnoea,” Dr Kelly Carden, president of the academy, said in an AASM news release.
Untreated sleep apnoea increases the odds of several diseases. Which ones? The acronym HEARTS will help you to remember:
H: Heart failure
E: Elevated blood pressure
A: Atrial fibrillation
R: Resistant hypertension
T: Type 2 diabetes
S: Stroke
If you have any symptoms of sleep apnoea, the AASM encourages you to reach out to a health care provider.
We all tend to be a bit squeamish at the idea of finding a stray hair in a plate of food – or even worse, finding it in your mouth.
But in a rare medical case, published in the journal Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine, Oral Pathology, Oral Radiology, a 19-year old woman from Italy sprouted eyelash-like hairs from the soft gum tissue directly behind her upper front teeth.
A potential clue
When the stunned doctors dug deeper into medical literature, only five other cases were found – all men.
With so little pre-existing knowledge of this condition, determining the origin would cause a bit of a gnashing of teeth.
But in this case, according to further reports on Science Alert, pathologists found a potential clue. The young woman had her hormone levels tested and had an ultrasound done and this revealed that she had polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a condition where cysts on the ovaries can cause hormonal imbalances, which can often cause excessive hair growth (hirsutism).
The difference, however, is, that the hair growth is restricted to areas that already sprout follicles, such as the face, limbs and torso.
These hairs were already out of place. Doctors reckon that PCOS might not be the direct cause, but could certainly worsen this strange condition, dubbed as gingival hirsutism.
Treatment
The doctors treated the woman’s condition by surgically removing the hairs and prescribing an oral contraceptive to help rectify hormonal imbalances.
But six years later, the woman returned to the doctors after stopping her hormonal therapy – hairs having sprouted from her gums again. The medical team decided not only to remove the hairs, but to dissect a small piece of tissue. They were astounded to see that hair shafts were pushing through an extremely thickened gum tissue.
A year later the condition had flared up in other sites inside her mouth.
No clear explanation
Researchers have since suggested that the mucosal tissues inside the human mouth are very similar to our skin tissues while we are still embryos – and since hair cells are already starting to develop in that tissue, it might explain why it can be activated in strange places such as the mouth.
And in a condition known as Fordyce granules, oil glands found on outer skin can also grow inside the mouth. But as for hair growth? No clear explanation as of yet.
The doctors are at this stage uncertain whether the patient has resumed hormone therapy and whether she is still dealing with this phenomenon.
Millennials are less likely to have had a flu shot this season and are more likely than other American adults to agree with some false anti-vaccination information, according to a new nationwide survey.
The results also showed that nearly one-third of adults polled don’t plan to get a flu shot and many underestimate how deadly flu can be.
Power of anti-vax movement
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)-commissioned survey of US adults aged 25 to 73 found that 51% haven’t had a flu shot this season, and 32% don’t plan to get one.
When asked a series of factual questions about the flu, 82% answered at least one wrong, and 28% got all of them wrong.
“It is very alarming to see how people are being influenced by the anti-vax movement,” Dr Alexa Mieses, a family physician in Durham, North Carolina, said in an AAFP news release.
Millennials – the nation’s largest demographic group, ages 24 to 39 – were least likely to have had a flu shot this season (55%), according to the survey. Of those, 33% don’t plan to get one.
Misinformation about vaccinations may be a factor. About 61% of millennials who are familiar with the anti-vaccination movement said they agreed with some of its beliefs. That’s more than the 52% rate for all adults and far higher than among baby boomers (42%).
Millennials were much more likely to say they don’t have time to get vaccinated (25%) than Generation X (12%) and baby boomers (6%). Millennials were also nearly twice as likely as older generations to forget to get the shot.
Importance of vaccines
The survey also showed millennials are the least informed about flu facts, with 86% of them getting at least one question wrong and 31% getting all of them wrong.
In addition, the results showed that black Americans who are familiar with the anti-vaccination movement were most likely to say they agree with its beliefs (61%). But only 45% of black Americans said they were familiar with it, compared with 55% of adults overall; 53% of Asian Americans; and 59% of Hispanic Americans.
“Whether they are young adults or African Americans, we need to make sure that these communities are educated about the importance of vaccines and that they understand the source of the rhetoric they’re hearing,” Mieses said. “It’s clear they are being influenced by myths and misinformation, and it’s critical that the facts reach them, too.”
Parents are also highly likely to be affected by misinformation, the survey showed.
Nearly three out of five parents surveyed said their child had missed a flu shot at least once, often due to vaccine misinformation or misunderstandings: 21% said they didn’t want their child to get sick from the shot, 13% didn’t think kids need it and 10% didn’t consider flu serious.
This flu season, the United States has had 4,800 flu-related deaths so far, including 32 children, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last season, an estimated 116 children died from the flu.
Officials said last week that it’s too soon to say whether this year’s flu vaccine is effective against the strains that are circulating. But experts added that people still have time to get the shot.
“It’s concerning to see that parents are misinformed, thinking the flu shot can give their children the flu or that they don’t need it,” Mieses said, adding that many simply don’t consider a flu shot as important as other vaccines.
“We need to make sure they understand the seriousness of the flu so they can protect and immunize their children and themselves,” she added.
Older adults who regularly consume a group of antioxidants called flavonols may have a decreased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a new study suggests.
The compounds exist in many fruits and vegetables, with the richest sources including green vegetables like kale, spinach and broccoli, apples and tea.
Plenty of fruits and vegetables
The researchers found that of over 900 older adults they followed for six years, the one-fifth with the highest flavonol intake were 48% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s than the one-fifth with the lowest intake.
The findings do not prove the antioxidants are a magic bullet against dementia, the researchers stressed. But they add to evidence that a healthy diet – including plenty of fruits and vegetables – may help protect the ageing brain.
While studies have linked healthy eating habits to a lower risk of mental decline, the new findings get closer to one potential reason, according to lead researcher Dr Thomas Holland.
“We’ve understood that fruits and vegetables are great for our health. We wanted to focus more on the ‘why,'” said Holland, of Rush University in Chicago.
Flavonols are known to act as antioxidants and fight inflammation, and animal research has suggested particular brain benefits: In lab mice engineered to have a “model” of Alzheimer’s, flavonols can curb the buildup of abnormal protein deposits in the brain, and improve memory and learning abilities.
In past research, the Rush team has found that an eating pattern they dubbed the “MIND diet” is related to a lower risk of memory decline and Alzheimer’s in older adults.
Leafy greens and berries
They describe the diet as a hybrid of the traditional Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) – both of which can lower the risks of heart disease and stroke.
The MIND diet emphasises fruits and vegetables – leafy greens and berries, in particular – as well as fibre-rich grains, nuts, beans, olive oil, fish and poultry. It discourages red meat, butter, sweets and highly processed foods.
The new findings, according to Holland, give further support to that type of eating pattern.
For the study, published online in Neurology, the researchers followed 921 older adults in an ongoing project looking at ageing and memory.
At the outset, they were 81 years old, on average, and answered questions on their diet, other lifestyle habits and medical history. Each year, they underwent neurological evaluations to spot signs of dementia.
Over six years, 220 study participants were diagnosed with probable Alzheimer’s. The risk, it turned out, was 48% lower for the one-fifth with the highest flavonol intake, versus the one-fifth with the lowest.
15mg each day
People largely got their flavonols from kale, spinach, broccoli, apples, pears, beans, tomatoes, tea, olive oil and wine. And the 20% percent with the highest intake consumed 15 milligrams (mg) a day, on average – three times more than people with the lowest flavonol intake, the findings showed.
According to Holland, it doesn’t take a full-fledged vegetarian diet to reach the 15mg mark each day: Half a cup of cooked leafy greens (or one cup of raw), a half-cup of berries, and a half-cup of other cooked vegetables should do it.
Of course, there may be other differences between older adults who eat lots of veggies and those who don’t. In this study, people with a high flavonol intake were more educated and more likely to exercise, for example.
But that did not explain their lower Alzheimer’s risk, the researchers found. Nor did factors like overall diet, body weight or depression symptoms.
That said, no one is suggesting people should focus on flavonols alone.
Dr Steven DeKosky is deputy director of the McKnight Brain Institute at the University of Florida, in Gainesville. He said, “This disease is complex, and there’s no one thing that will prevent it.”
It’s like a symphony
Nor is there any evidence that flavonol supplements curb Alzheimer’s risk, stressed DeKosky, who is also a fellow with the American Academy of Neurology.
“But we do think there are things you can do to decrease your risk,” he said.
Studies have linked a number of lifestyle factors to a relatively lower risk of developing dementia – including a healthy diet, regular exercise, staying socially active, and challenging yourself with mentally stimulating activities.
But while studies do statistical adjustments to try to isolate an effect of one thing – like flavonol intake – in the real world, it’s overall lifestyle that’s key, DeKosky said.
“It’s not one thing in isolation,” he said. “It’s more like a symphony.”
Women and men have a much higher risk of dangerous heart problems soon after their first stroke compared to people without stroke, even if they don’t have obvious underlying heart disease, a study has found.
Researchers investigated data on more than 93 000 people age 66 or older in Ontario, Canada. The group included more than 12 000 women and 9 500 men who had an ischaemic stroke, the most common type.
Shared risk factors
None of the subjects had apparent heart disease. But after having a first stroke, the risk of having a major heart incident – such as a heart attack, heart failure or cardiovascular death – 30 days later was 25 times higher in women and 23 times higher in men.
One year after a stroke, men and women still had twice the risk of a major cardiac event compared to their peers who had not had a stroke, found the study, published in the American Heart Association journal Stroke.
“We already knew that patients with stroke have more frequent cardiovascular complications than other people,” said lead author Dr Luciano Sposato, an associate professor and head of the stroke programme at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University in London, Ontario.
Doctors had suspected the connection was related to risk factors shared between heart disease and stroke, such as hypertension, diabetes or smoking.
But seeing the connection in people without underlying heart disease suggests other mechanisms are involved and need more research, Sposato said.
Level of risk ‘astounding’
Although the study found no differences in post-stroke risk between women and men, previous studies have shown men are eight times more likely than women to have hidden heart disease, Sposato said. That suggests different mechanisms might be at work in men than in women, he said.
Dr Cheryl Bushnell, professor of neurology at Wake Forest School of Medicine and vice chair of research at Wake Forest Baptist Health in North Carolina, called the level of risk uncovered by the study “astounding”.
It means those who treat stroke patients need to emphasise follow-up care even more than they do now, said Bushnell, who was not involved in the new research.
The nature of the study limited what could be extrapolated about the links between stroke and heart risks, she said, and further research would be helpful.
Speculating about those possible links, Sposato said the heart and brain share deep neurological connections. Previous research shows brain damage from strokes and other causes can lead to heart damage.
Another way of preventing cardiovascular events
Sposato, in fact, contributed to a 2019 study in rats showing a stroke in a part of the brain known as the insular cortex led to inflammation and other fibrosis in the heart.
“So now we know for sure that there’s a clear relationship between stroke and new heart disease, but we don’t know how it happens,” he said. If scientists could unlock the ways a stroke triggers heart problems, it could eventually lead to new ideas for how to prevent them.
Meanwhile, he said, health care providers should be aware of the risk and “very actively” watch for coronary symptoms or hidden heart disease in people who recently had strokes, “because that might be another way of preventing cardiovascular events.”
